Stratification Breakdown in Antarctic Coastal Polynyas. Part II: Influence of an Ice Tongue and Coastline Geometry
Name
phoc-JPO-D-22-0219.1.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
5.99 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
cc0d914f7ea1d44e9392ca36fed21947
Author(s)
Xu, Yilang
Zhang, Weifeng Gordon
Maksym, Ted
Ji, Rubao
Li, Yun
Date Issued
August 28, 2023
Journal
Journal of Physical Oceanography
Publisher
American Meteorological Society
Citation
Xu, Y., W. (. Zhang, T. Maksym, R. Ji, and Y. Li, 2023: Stratification Breakdown in Antarctic Coastal Polynyas. Part II: Influence of an Ice Tongue and Coastline Geometry. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 53, 2069–2088.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
This is Part II of a study examining wintertime destratification in Antarctic coastal polynyas, focusing on providing a qualitative description of the influence of ice tongues and headlands, both common geometric features neighboring the polynyas. The model of a coastal polynya used in Part I is modified to include an ice tongue and a headland to investigate their impacts on the dispersal of water formed at the polynya surface, which is referred to as Polynya Source Water (PSW) here. The model configuration qualitatively represents the settings of some coastal polynyas, such as the Terra Nova Bay Polynya. The simulations highlight that an ice tongue next to a polynya tends to break the alongshore symmetry in the lateral return flows toward the polynya, creating a stagnant region in the corner between the ice tongue and polynya where outflow of the PSW in the water column is suppressed. This enhances sinking of the PSW and accelerates destratification of the polynya water column. Adding a headland to the other side of the polynya tends to restore the alongshore symmetry in the lateral return flows, which increases the offshore PSW transport and slows down destratification in the polynya. This work stresses the importance of resolving small-scale geometric features in simulating vertical mixing in the polynya. It provides a framework to explain spatial and temporal variability in rates of destratification and Dense Shelf Water formation across Antarctic coastal polynyas, and helps understand why some polynyas are sources of Antarctic Bottom Water while others are not.
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-22-0219.1
